Western Frontiers: Stories of Fact and Fiction

Admission: $10; there are discounts for students, seniors and children. Free admission for veterans. Free admission to all on the second Tuesday of every month.

Information: 323-667-2000.;http://theautry.org

“Firearms were absolutely essential for life on the American frontier, in the American West.”

That’s Jeffrey Richardson, the Autry National Center’s Gamble curator of western history, popular culture and firearms as he stands in the new George Gamble Firearms Gallery one morning talking about its inaugural exhibition, “Western Frontiers: Stories of Fact and Fiction.”

The ongoing, interpretative exhibition explores the ties guns have in the history of the West, their use and how they changed over time, from the single shot rifles used in the opening days of the frontier to the impractical yet snazzy chop jobs of ‘50s and ‘60s-era television westerns. Presented in the new space — with its LED lighting and salvaged boards from The Autry’s former “Back Lot” movie installation — are rare and notable firearms, advertisements and art works as well as listening stations re-enacting the words of Davy Crockett.

It all serves to put firearms in their proper historical context, which is a first in the museum’s 25-year history.

“If The Autry is serious about looking at the true history of the American West — exploring all of its complexities, all of its diversities — it is really imperative that we examine firearms,” Richardson says. “It would not only be inaccurate if we removed them from the narrative; it would be irresponsible.”

Rifles, carbines and revolvers drove the narrative of the West.

In telling the story the exhibition, which features the finest examples of their type from the recent Gamble gift as well as The Autry’s pre-existing collection, the museum uses particular guns to explore larger topics such as the opening of that imaginary line marking the boundary of American settlement in the 17th through 19th centuries.

Early settlers carried the Kentucky Rifle, circa 1807. This long, lightweight gun was created by German immigrants using old world techniques adapted to new world conditions. When corporate-backed mountain men and trappers moved into the region, they required more fire power, and they found it in the smaller Hawken Rifle, circa 184, which was sturdy enough to double as a club; later, it was the Sharps Rifle, circa 1874.

The Sharps Rifle was smaller and yet more powerful than the Hawken Rifle. From a safe distance, hunters could kill bison. The subsequent slaughter was a blow for Native Americans who depended on the bison for survival.

“Firearms carry a lot of baggage with them,” Richardson says. “Its main purpose is to hurl a projectile at such speeds that it can kill people, animals, do destructive things. We always have to remember that, even when we put beautiful guns on display, so people will come to understand why not just America in general has this long history with guns, but specifically the American West, and why the use of guns in the American West is different than almost every region.”

While guns were designed for what faced frontiersmen in the West, some were adorned with gold inlay, engraved or carved for no reason other than it looked cool.

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Consider Theodore Roosevelt’s favorite western revolver, a Colt Single Action Army, circa 1883, with T.R. engraved on the ivory grips. Also known as a “Peacemaker,” the gun was one of several that Roosevelt had custom made by Hartley & Graham, a sporting goods store at the time, before venturing out West as the best-dressed cowboy in his Brooks Brothers buckskins.

His revolver featured gold plating, which was worn off from regular use.

“This gun was in and out of its holster,” says Richardson, adding that Roosevelt was both a hunter and a conservationist, which for many may sound incompatible. In fact, hunters and fishermen are the largest supporters of wildlife conservation to this day. Guns continued in popularity long after settlers pushed the boundary of the frontier far west, and well after 1890 when the United States Census declared the official end of the frontier.

At the turn of the century, they were glamorized in increasingly popular Wild West shows as highlighted by Annie Oakley’s gold and mother-of-pearl-gripped pistols — gifts from her husband. And by the mid-20th century, guns were seen almost as characters on television westerns, which used customized firearms to distinguish one show from another.

The exhibition features the opening of “Wanted: Dead or Alive,” which starred Steve McQueen sporting a Winchester carbine that was chopped off in the front and back to create a hand gun. The gun was called Mare’s Laig and stood out on television, but it didn’t exist on the American frontier. The cartridges on the gun belt didn’t even fit the gun.

“These guns have really amazing stories. Some are exceptionally beautiful, but that’s not our point,” Richardson says. “Our hope is to concentrate on those broader topics the guns help illuminate.”